MINI STIMULUS TO BOOST SLOWING ECONOMY

China announced steps to boost its slowing growth, including extending tax breaks for small businesses and support measures for poor urban districts. Anticipation has been building for responses to disappointing economic indicators, including on industrial production and consumer spending. “The State Council is responding to the growth slowdown by announcing tax breaks for SMEs, speeding up investment in railways and rebuilding urban shantytowns,” HSBC economists Qu Hongbin and Sun Junwei said. The tax breaks for MSMEs will be extended until the end of 2016, the State Council said in a statement.